Knitting machine



Dec. 12, 1950 Filed Aug. 12, 1948 A. 5. STAFF KNITTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS A. 5. STAFF KNITTING MACHINE Dec. 12, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 12, 1948 INVENTOR W ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 12, 1950 KNITTING MACHINE Aaron S. Staff.,.New-York,=.N;--..Y:, assigncreto.

Texagon. Mills.11ic., Ridgefield;- N. -J.-, acct-norm.

tion of New J e'rsey Aiaplication rAugustdZ, 1948, Serial'N'o. 43,8 62

5 Claims. (Cl. 66-9-86) This inventionrelates to-Warp' knitting ma-r chines, which include one or more rows of needles and a plurality of thread guide bars,.-which'.are

swung transversely of the rows of needles .and

also. shogged during, the knitting. operation. More particularly, the invention is. concerned with.

anovel. warp..,knitting..machine, in which,.al-.

though a largenumbercof thread guide bars are employed, the bars'are so mounted that the arc,

through-which theytravel inpassingfrom one. side of the needles. to .thecother is. no greater. thanthat traversed by. amuch smallernumberof bars. in amachinelof conventional construction. The new machine. can, accordingly, be.:operated at a higher output .rate..than prior. machines having. the same number of, guide .bars.

In warp knittingmachines. as now-.constructed,I it is. customary to support the .threadguide bars 0n brackets depending ,from. a shaft extending lengthwise of a row of. needles and mounted above The thread them..for axial rockin'gnnovement. guide .bars are mounted to depend from rods extending lengthwise of "the row ofneedl'es and supported .for endwise movement in the several brackets. The thread guides carried by each bar lie in a row and, although the guides in the sev-' eral rows are mounted tov converge, the eye ends of guides in respective rows are spaced apart,..,so

that, if 'a considerable number of rows of .guides' are used-the distance across the rows from'one outer row to the other is substantial. In the lapping of the threads'aboutthe needles, the arc, through which'the. shaft is swung" to pass the guides from one side of the row of needles .to the other; depends on the distance across the rows, and, as that distance is increased'with an in crease in the number of guide bars usedjthe: durationof the: knitting cycle is correspondinglyincreased and the output of the machine reduced. Also, the number'of guide bars that can be used" ina conventional machine is limited; because, if

too .great a'number of'loars are used,"the"in1av threads are liable to be caught by theneedles:

with resultant defects in the fabric.

The present invention-is directed to the pro vision'of' a novel warp knitting machiney'in which a large number of thread guide bars may be employed without reducing the speed of the machine below that of amachine of usual construction" having a much smaller number of guide bars and without encounteringdifiiculties because of the inla'ythreads' being caught by the needles. In the new machin'e,.a numberof guide-bars are mountedsforendwise .movement. in aligned slots in block's/carriedby-a rock'shaft'and the bars are so supportedxthat theireeyes are substantially in alignment.:. The number of guide bars mounted. in-the blocks mayvary in accordance-with the requirements. ofithe construction of the fabric .to becma'de,but,.since.-.the.'free'end of the guides carried by thebars in the blocks are aligned,

the use 'of more'tha-n one-bar in the blocks does not require an increase. in..the are, through which; the rock-shaft is swung, and-therefore, does not prolong the knitting cycle orcut down the out putrate of the-machine- In. addition to thenovelrfeatures mentionedf. the-invention includesa thread guide bar of novel j. construction, whichcanbeproduced and main-r tained in working condition easily and at low cost.

For a better understanding ,of ,-.the-invention,

reference. may behadtothe accompanying drav ings, in. which 1 .is a vertical .sectional .view on the line" 1-! of Fig. 2.of a knitting-machine embodying.

the invention;

Fig.2 .is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 22 .of Fig.1;

Fig. 3lis.a .view'inside elevation of a thread guidev bar. used in the machine;

Figlc4is a. sectional view on the line 4-4 of."

Fig. Si and Fig.15fis a view in endelevationof a part of the machine.

The .knitti'ngmachine illustrated in the drawings includes end fframes l6; between which ex tends a shaft: I I mounted in the. frames. for rocking movement. The shaft is. rockedby an arm l2 fast thereon and vis'connected to arod 3, which is reciprocated.endwise. by cam means (not shown). A'pluralitypfhangers M are attached to the underside 0f""shaft="ll in spaced relation" and, at its lower end, each hanger carries a cross arm iSjon whichare'mounted'slotted'plates i6, ll, andlBf. Each'plate is seated'in a channel one face of the. cross-arm andheld in place by a screw lSpassing through its slots and into the".

cross-"arm; the: plate thusbeing adjustable Verti- ,cally. Plates [6 "andl'l lhaveopenings' in their lower ends and rodsiZU', 2]., extending lengthwise of themachine and 'reciprocable endwise, pass through aligned openings in plates. [6,11, respectivlelyi An angle ironZZ extends the length of 1 rod .29 and "its horizontal-flange is. connected rigidly thereto by arms 23. A plurality of. thread guide assemblies 24 "are mounted .on the downwardly extending flangeof angleiiron 22,'each assembly' includingarow of thread guide? needles v .zamne eyes of which lie in alignment. An angle iron 26 is rigidly attached by arms 21 to rod 2| and its downwardly extending flange carries thread guide assemblies 21a having thread guides 28 arranged in a row with their eyes in alignment. In the machine illustrated, the threads handled by guides 25 are for knitting purposes and those handled by guides 28 are inlaid in the fabric.

An angle iron 29 is attached by its vertical flange to the plates [8 and a plurality of blocks 30 are mounted on the horizontal flange of the angle iron at intervals along the machine. Each block 33 is formed of metal and it is generally of arcuate shape and formed with a plurality of slots 3| opening through its lower curved wall 32. The slots converge toward wall 32 and, at their inner ends, the slots have cylindrical enlargements 33.

A plurality of thread guide bars in the form of thin metal strips 34 are mounted in corresponding slots in the blocks 36 along the machine and each strip has beads 35 of cylindrical form attached to its upper edge in spaced relation. The strip and the beads thereon are of such dimensions that the strip can be passed endwise through corresponding slots in blocks 30 and, when in operative position, a bead on the strip lies within the cylidrical enlargement 33 at the inner end of the slot in each block.

Each of the strips 34 carries thread guide needles 36 in distributed arrangement thereon. Each such needle is made of a thin strip of metal, which has a wide face secured by brazing to one face of the strip 34 and, just below the lower edge of strip 34, the needle is bent at 36a through 90, so that the free ends of the needles disposed along the strip 34 thus have their flat faces parallel. The eyes 31 in the needles 36 on all the strips 34 lie substantially in alignment. There are ten slots in each block 36 in the machine illustrated and thus there are ten strips 34. The thread guide needles 36 on successive strips across a block 30 are offset lengthwise of the strips. Thus, in a series of ten guide needles 36 along the machine, the first needle is mounted on strip 34 at one side of each block 30 and the next guide needle along the machine is mounted on the next strip 34 mounted in the blocks. This arrangement repeats itself lengthwise of the machine.

A restoring spring 38 is connected to one end of each strip 34 and also to a fixed part of the machine. The other end of each strip is attached to a rod 39, which is reciprocated endwise by the patterning mechanism to shog the strip. The rods 29 and 2| are also provided with shogging means and restoring spring means, as is customary.

The machine includes a row of latch needles 40 lying below the lower ends of the thread guides 25, 28, 36 and carried in assemblies 4| attached to a needle bar 42, which is raised and lowered during the operation of the machine.

With the construction described, there are ten sets of thread guides 36 carried on respective strips 34, which are independently movable for shogging purposes, but, since the ends of all the thread guides 36 are in alignment, the shogging movement of each strip 34 is somewhat limited. In the machine shown, there are four latch needles 40 between successive thread guides 36 along the machine, so that each strip 34 can be shogged only through the space of four latch needles without interference of its thread guides with those on the adjacent strip. However if 4 the adjacent strip is shogged at the same time, the first strip may have a shogging movement greater than four needles.

The thread guides 36 are employed for inlay threads, and, since these guides all have their eyes substantially in alignment, the distance transverse to the row of latch needles from the ends of guides 25 to the ends of guides 36 is no greater than the corresponding distance in an ordinary machine having only three thread guide bars. Accordingly, although there are twelve thread guide bars in the new machine, the are, through which rock shaft ll must move to lay the threads about the needles is no greater than that required in a conventional machine with three thread guide bars. The duration of the knitting cycle in the new machine is thus the same as that in an ordinary machine having three thread guide bars. Also, because of the close spacing of guide needles 36 to guide needles 25, no difficulty is encountered because of threads manipulated thereby becoming caught by the latch needles.

The thread guide strips 34, having the guide needles 36 attached to them in the manner described, can be easily produced and maintained in working condition. Such a thread guide bar assembly is much simpler than those heretofore employed, in which the ends of guide needles are embedded in lead or a plastic material and the assemblies attached in a row to the bar.

In the machine illustrated, ten thread guide bars or strips 34 are used and the thread guides 36 on each such bar are separated a distance equivalent to forty latch needles. It will be understood that the number of thread guide bars and the spacing of the thread guides thereon depends upon the fabric to be produced and, for some purposes, a less number Of thread guide bars 34 may be employed or the thread guides may be differently spaced on the bars. While it is possible, by using blocks 30 with more than ten slots to make use of more than ten bars 34, ten such bars are sufiicient for practically all purposes.

I claim:

1. In a knitting machine having a row of needles, the combination of a shaft extending lengthwise of the row and mounted for axial rocking movement, a rod mounted on the shaft for endwise movement lengthwise of the row of needles, a guide bar attached to the rod, a plurality of thread guides carried by the bar, a plurality of blocks mounted in spaced relation along the shaft, each block having a plurality of slots convergent toward the needles, a plurality of strips extending lengthwise of the row of needles, each strip being mounted for endwise movement in corresponding slots in the several blocks, and a plurality of thread guides mounted in spaced relation along each strip, the guide eyes of the guides on the strips all lying substantially in alignment.

2. In a knitting machine having a row of needles, the combination of a shaft extending lengthwise of the row and mounted for axial rocking movement, a rod mounted on the shaft for endwise movement lengthwise of the row of needles, a guide bar attached to the rod, a plurality of thread guides carried by the bar, a plurality of blocks mounted in spaced relation along the shaft, each block having a plurality of slots convergent toward the needles, a plurality of strips extending lengthwise of the row of needles, each strip being mounted for endwise movement in corresponding slots in the several blocks, and a plurality of thread guides mounted in spaced relation along each strip, the guides on successive strips across the blocks zbeing successively offset lengthwise of the strips and the guide eyes of the guides on the strips all lying substantially in alignment.

3. In a knitting machine having a row of needles, the combination of a shaft extending lengthwise of the row and mounted for axial rocking movement, a plurality of brackets mounted in spaced relation along the shaft and extending toward the needles, a rod carried by the several brackets for endwise movement, a guide bar attached to the rod, a plurality of thread guides mounted on the guide bar, a plurality of blocks carried by the brackets in spaced relation lengthwise of the row of needles, each block having a plurality of slots convergent toward the needles, a plurality of strips extending lengthwise of the row of needles, each strip being mounted for endwise movement in corresponding slots in the several blocks, and a plurality of thread guides mounted in spaced relation along each strip, the guide eyes of the guides on the strips all lying substantially in alignment.

4. A thread guide assembly for use in a knit ting machine which comprises a plurality of blocks, each having a plurality of convergent slots, the slots converging toward corresponding faces of the several blocks, a plurality of strips,

6 each mounted for endwise movement in corresponding slots in the several blocks, and a plurality of thread guides mounted in distributed relation along each strip, the guide eyes of the guides on all the strips all lying substantially in alignment.

5. In a thread guide assembly, the combination of an elongated thread guide bar having a fiat face and a plurality of thread guides carried by the bar, each guide being formed of a narrow metal strip having one wide face at one end thereof in contact with and secured to the flat face of the bar, the strip being bent between its ends through about its longitudinal axis, the free ends of the guides lying parallel and having guide eyes lying substantially in alignment.

AARON S. STAFF.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,103,852 Kessler Dec. 28, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 293,043 Great Britain Sept. 2'7, 1929 672,076 Germany Feb. 20, 1939 

